2K Games announces Spec Ops: The Line is now available in North America for Windows and consoles, offering a single-player third-person shooter set in a near-future Dubai cut off from the world by sandstorms. The game is due internationally on Friday, and they also remind us of their plans to release free DLC adding co-op to the game down the road, saying this is currently planned for this August. They celebrate the news with a part two of their Behind the Line developer diary, and here's word:

2K Games announced today that Spec Ops®: The Line is now available in North America for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. The game will be available internationally on June 29, 2012.

Developed by YAGER, Spec Ops: The Line features an intense single-player narrative that unfolds within Dubai after a series of cataclysmic sandstorms cut the city off from the rest of the world. Playing as Captain Martin Walker, gamers fight through Dubai in this gripping third-person shooter in their search for Colonel John Konrad and his missing battalion, The Damned 33rd. Players will blast their way through sandstorms with a variety of weapons and explosives, even using sand as a weapon to strategically bury enemies in their path. Combining brutal action and combat with a riveting narrative and the unique setting of a sandstorm ravaged Dubai, Spec Ops: The Line is unlike any other military shooter.

“Spec Ops: The Line is a fresh take on the military shooter genre,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “With a story that takes a dark look into the consequences of warfare, Spec Ops: The Line has the ability to shake the player to their moral core.”

In addition to the single-player campaign, Spec Ops: The Line features an expansive, class-based multiplayer experience set in visually stunning and unique environments. Players are encouraged to use their sand-filled surroundings to thwart their enemies; however, the environment can quickly turn from advantageous to treacherous with the onset of sandstorms – which impact visibility, team communication and weapon handling.

Free cooperative bonus content for Spec Ops: The Line will also be available for download* to anyone who purchases the game when the mode is complete post-launch (current estimate approximately August 2012). The bonus content features a series of objective-based cooperative multiplayer scenarios set in same sand-ravaged scenario as the single-player campaign prior to Captain Walker and his squad’s arrival. It includes four fast-paced missions, each with its own unique objectives, environments and playable characters. Players must work together to fight through waves of enemies and blinding sandstorms to complete their objectives, emphasizing teamwork and utilizing a variety of weapons and explosives.

Spec Ops: The Line is rated M for Mature by the ESRB and is available now for Xbox 360, PS3™ and PC. For a complete Spec Ops: The Line experience, including the latest news, downloads, information and more, please visit www.specopstheline.com. Check out Spec Ops: The Line on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/specops.

[voice-over] I was going to the worst place in the world and I didn't even know it yet. Weeks away and hundreds of miles of desert that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable plugged straight into Konrad. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel John Konrad's memory any more than being back in Dubai was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story really is a confession, then so is mine.

Things feel "off" in the gameplay. That "off" feeling either low-budget or just crap games can have.

Like I said in another post, the combat has one "revolutionary" feature I think. When you pull off a headshot, the game slows down a bit for half a second to a second. This gives a skilled player enough time to line up another headshot, which can put you in a chain of headshot slo-mo's. I liked that one thing very much.